Exciti

Chapter 44 (Adam)

Eiserne raised his penciled brows and gave them a broad, black toothed smile, "Ah! Yet another nice gift from you, Gafol! He will be so pleased. Your status is getting higher and higher in his eyes, my friend!"

Gafol bowed. "I'm but his humble servant."

Eiserne grinned his black teeth, "A good answer, and I'm sure he will reward you justly. Well, at the very least you won't have to offer that bounty money anymore." He laughed at his own joke.

Lucy looked with apparent disgust at Gafol and said something that was distorted by the gag. Adam was sure it wasn't a compliment.

"I see the doll is as spirited as ever," Eiserne said then looked at Adam, "I've got to say, I was astonished. An Eclipser? How," he looked around the room as if looking for the word, "Inconvenient?"

Adam glared in silence. He wanted nothing more than to Eclipse that monster, even if his vile life force made him sick.

Eiserne waved his hands, "Oh, don't glare, it's bad for your complexion." He leaned in conspiratorially, "To be frank, finding out about your little gift got me out of the doghouse after our unfortunate meeting at the hospital and the failure of that feeble White Fang." He then straightened up and grinned wider, "Alas, I have to cut our reunion short. I need to get rid of you."

His head spun to look at the tank, which chose that moment to bubble and froth. Eiserne looked scared for the first time since Adam met him.

He then looked back at Adam with pure disappointment. "I hope you realize how lucky you are. You are to stay for the main event."

Adam stared at the water, wondering what on earth was in there.

Gafol stepped forward, his eyes darting back and forth between Adam and the tank, "I'm afraid that this is a bad decision. We are dealing with the Eclipser here! He is a danger to His Glory"

The aquarium Bubbled again. Eiserne's voice was grave, "bad ...decision?"

Gafol's face twitched, "I mean, he must reconsider. The Eclipser is a danger to all our plans, a weapon in The Society's hands. And..and...if one of them runs away, my position in the Board will..."

The water in the aquarium frothed. Eiserne's expression was cold, "My Emperor's commands are absolute!"

Adam felt something flit from the tank. Gafol gasped then screamed, falling to his knees. His eyes rolled back as he shook and trembled, "No, not this...Please, my Emperor...No!" He stopped talking and gave a long, blood-curdling scream that only ended when he ran ahead then threw himself into the stream of lava.

The heat left nothing but an ashy outline of a hammer. A faint smell of burnt wood permeated the air. Adam felt his mouth open in a silent scream. He looked away to find that no one else was fazed except for him, a shocked Liam and a very pale Lucy.

Eiserne pursed his lips and shrugged, "The silly old block," then gestured to his men, and they proceeded to untie them and remove their gags. "My Emperor doesn't take kindly to being defied. Centuries of hunger and feeding on nothing but energy have left him a little temperamental I'm afraid. Hangry if I may."

Adam was just beginning to think that this sounded familiar when Eiserne swiveled at a noise to his right and opened his arms as if to give a hug, "Excellent! Our guest of honor has arrived."

Everyone's eyes followed the direction of Eiserne's gaze. Ricky had emerged from a dark entrance, looking smug as he held the ether mask in one hand and the end of a thick steel chain in another. The other end of the chain was attached to the neck of a person, dressed in white robes that reached the floor and a canvas bag that covered the entire head, undoubtedly a prisoner of theirs.

Ricky led the captive to the wooden frame on the stage and ordered, "on your knees." The froggy voice grated on Adam's nerve, but the ether mask seemed to make the prisoner completely obedient. The chain clanked as the prisoner kneeled at the wooden frame and allowed Eiserne's men to secure the thin, pale limbs to the it without so much as a flinch. Adam swallowed, the prisoner's arms bared several scratches and bruises, the right arm even seemed to have a palm-sized burn.

All those thoughts, and every other thought Adam ever had, seemed to evaporate from his head when Ricky yanked the canvas bag off the prisoner. 

Adam was only vaguely aware of Lucy's scream next to him. His mind and body were overwhelmed by a surge of relief that drained the life out of his limbs, sending him, too, to his knees. His voice refused to leave his chest as his lips formed the words, "Tam."

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(Liam)

Liam's eyes stung. Tamara was paler than he remembered, and she had definitely lost weight, but other than that and the few injuries on her arms, she seemed very much alive.

Ricky moved away, tucking the ether mask away under his shirt. Tamara's glazed eyes cleared up, and she started to look around.

When her eyes landed on them, her expression transformed into one of longing, then horror. "Adsee!" she said then looked around until she spotted Eiserne, "These are children! They have nothing to do with this!"

Eiserne shrugged, "Don't look at me, I wanted to kill them, but His Glory wanted them to stay and watch the Raising."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "There will be no Raising. I will never help you."

Eiserne smiled, hopped off the stage, stormed toward Lucy and plucked her by the scruff of her neck from the hands of his men.

"No! Let her go!" yelled Adam. Eiserne's men held him and Liam back.

Eiserne ignored them and took Lucy to the stage. He pulled her up by the hair until she was dangling in the air, just out of Tamara's reach. "I have slaved for this moment for too long to let a brat like you ruin it! You will do it, or I will kill those children, starting with this girl right here." He shook Lucy like a rag," Hands in the water!" He barked

Tamara growled, "If you as much as harm a hair on any of their heads..."

Eiserne drew Lucy closer to his torso, "In the water."

Lucy gritted her teeth and opened her eyes to look at Tamara. "Don't do it!"

A spike burst out of Eiserne's body, making Lucy scream as the sharp metal grazed her shoulder, leaving a deep cut. He sneered at the horror on Tamara's face, "That was just a warning. Hands in the water or the spikes will disintegrate this Excitus!"

Tamara continued glaring, but she put her hands in the water and shuddered when she touched the lump inside. Liam was sure the prayer he read on her lips wasn't audible, "May this raise you to the height from which you will fall to your final doom, Crimson Emperor."

Then, a wave of light swallowed them all.